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A student in an augmented environments lab at Georgia Tech stands over a three-story pit, which in reality is a green screen transformed by the head-mounted display she is wearing. This is part of an experiment that measures fear of heights.

Computer programmers have sometimes been called nerdy, geeky and brainy. The industry has a new reputation, though. It has become cool.

More than 250 colleges and universities offer gaming degrees, and many of these programs involve more than just video games. At the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, for example, there is one that combines engineering, computer science, art and media.

Beyond Entertainment

The augmented environments lab at Georgia Tech is bustling. Blair MacIntyre runs the lab and shows off some of the experiments. In one corner there's a room surrounded by wooden planks, and a green screen covers the floor.

This experiment is designed to measure a person's response to a fear of heights and learn from it.

"It really is the kind of combination of the kind of graphics you would see in a movie or video game," McIntyre says. "But because you are in the world, it really feels more real."

Gaming is the biggest force driving this technology. But MacIntyre says many others use it including the U.S. military and people in the medical field.

There are also practical, everyday uses for this type of technology. MacIntyre gives the example of an application that could, when installed on an iPhone, show a car owner if there was something wrong with her vehicle. "You look at your engine through your phone and figure out some basic repairs," MacIntyre says.

Across the Georgia Tech campus, students learn how to design and program based on one of the first major gaming systems — the Atari. Ian Bogost, a professor of digital media, gives students a background in gaming and knows they will use the technology to solve all kinds of real-world problems.

"We can apply them to journalistic pursuits, corporate learning," Bogost says. "We can apply them to social action, social justice. So when we look at games, and when we teach about games, it's not just about the entertainment industry. Although that's one aspect, it's really about the future of media much more broadly."

A Growing Industry

Even with a sagging economy, colleges and universities across the country have added gaming programs in the hopes of attracting students.

Richard Shemaka started out as mechanical engineer but found gaming more creative and, he hopes, more profitable.

"As a mechanical engineer, I was all about slide rules and multiplication tables," Shemaka says. "As soon as I got into computing, I just fell in love with it. I really love the logic behind it. I love just the sort of building-something-out -of-nothing sense that you get from it."

Emily Cribb is also a senior and one of a few women in this program.

"Everyone's going to need their escape," she says. "Everyone's going to need their muse, and games provide an excellent source of that. And I want to be in there helping people feel inspired and, thus, being inspired in turn."

The majority of undergraduate gaming programs have been developed in the past few years. Some people worry the industry will become saturated.

But Joseph Olin, with the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, says there are no signs the appetite for gaming is waning.

"I don't believe consumer interest in interactive entertainment is going to abate," he says. "If anything, it seems to be increasing each year."

While universities figure out which courses to offer, most suggest there are still plenty of opportunities for creative students to find jobs with major companies or to make their own way in business, Web design or as independent game developers.

BoingBoing reports that a recent case filing in Robbins vs. Lower Merion School District, a Pennsylvania school, is a class action suit on behalf of students with school-issued laptops whose webcams have been used to watch the students and their families at home.

It was discovered that the laptops issued by the high school contained software allowing administrators to covertly activate the on-board webcam. The plaintiff, Blake J. Robbins, was disciplined by the school for “improper behavior in his home.” The evidence of said impropriety was brought forth by the school vice principal, who displayed a photo of Robbins taken by the laptop’s webcam.

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don't know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I'm getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students' clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.

Schools are in an absolute panic about kids divulging too much online, worried about pedos and marketers and embarrassing photos that will haunt you when you run for office or apply for a job in 10 years. They tell kids to treat their personal details as though they were precious.

your privacy is worthless and you shouldn't try to protect it.

Update: The school district admits that student laptops were shipped with software for covertly activating their webcams, but denies wrongdoing.

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